BiggerPockets

What's the most tenant friendly flooring, that's cheap to install, and still looks desirable?

Carpet?
Hardwoods?
Laminant?
Sticky tiles?

I guess what I'd like to know is, what flooring will have the lowest maintenance cost over a 10 year period?

I agree with painted concrete. Almost bulletproof except to pet urine. I had a tough time getting the odor out and getting the new paint to stick.

Most of my rentals have the sticky vinyl squares. They all have the ame pattern and the tiles retail around $.35 each. I usually buy then in large enough quantities to get them for around $.30 each. Easy to replace when damaged.

Carpet is by far the worst, IMHO. every tenant wants you to replace the carpet and some stains and odors will not come out.

I have a couple with hardwood. Deep scratches are not cool. Normal wear on them is OK. If you want to make them look great for cheap you clean them with Murphy's oil and then put a clear coat of urethane on them. The floors will look spectacular and your prospective tenants will drool when they come in the door. Works every time.

Painted wood floors are the lowest maintenance for normal flooring. Obviously, concrete would be great too. Everything else WILL be destroyed by the tenants.

I'd use the CVT (commercial vinyl times) over those cheap sticky ones. A little more work to install. Much, much thicker, though, and the color goes all the way throught. They hold up great, and you can pop out a damaged one and replace it. There's a reason they use those in hospitals and other high traffic commercial applications.

Jon, have you found CVT that doesn't look commercial?

That is the same think I was thinking Jon K.

I want a non- commercial look....but for whatever I use to be easy to install, easy to replace and hold up well. :D

painted hardwood floors are the best for low to middle income areas. Costs me $0.06/sq foot in between renters.

Originally posted by rich23s

painted hardwood floors are the best for low to middle income areas. Costs me $0.06/sq foot in between renters.

the problem with paint i heard(because i would never do it) is that it starts to chip and the friction from the wood moving causes the paint to dust, and i don't want to imagine kids or babies crawling on paint dust. i've always rented a sander from home depot, and a can of polyurethane and it looks great after a couple of coats.

It all depends on the rental. If the house rents for over $2,000.00 a month, the tenants will want a very nice carpet and will usually take very good care of it. If the house rents for $500- $1000 a month, I usually use a very low grade carpet or vinyl tile. I don't like wood floors because of urine, both human and animal, soak into the wood and is a pain to fix.

Originally posted by Michael S.

Originally posted by rich23s

painted hardwood floors are the best for low to middle income areas. Costs me $0.06/sq foot in between renters.

the problem with paint i heard(because i would never do it) is that it starts to chip and the friction from the wood moving causes the paint to dust, and i don't want to imagine kids or babies crawling on paint dust. i've always rented a sander from home depot, and a can of polyurethane and it looks great after a couple of coats.

why wouldn't you ever do it? You don't like making money? :lol:

have you ever scratched poly? That makes dust too. I'm just saying that the renters like painted floors and I like my low maintenance/ 6 cents per square foot flooring. My houses rent from $750-$950/month.

Originally posted by Bill Patterson

Painted floors.....I hate to think of the tenants that that would attract! When I was involved with student rentals, I gave them a nice place and 90% of them left it so. The other 10% helped feed my maintenance people and suppliers!
Bill

i've sold and shown many homes and never heard anyone say "could you show me a house with painted floors" i don't even think i seen it done on tv...i guess it's a midwest thing!